Bar Exam Toolbox Podcast Episode 305: Spotlight on Civil Procedure (Part 2 – Discovery)
Preparing for Deposition Success
Podcast - Impeaching with a Deposition
LFLM LAW with L.A.W - Depositions in Workers' Compensation
The New Playbook for Depositions - Speaking of Litigation Podcast
What to Do When an Employee Receives a Subpoena
Podcast - Ethical Deposition Conduct
Facing a Deposition: Tips and Strategies
Podcast: What is a Deposition?
Sitting with the C-Suite: Trial Prep as a Launchpad for Services
Webinar: Conducting Depositions Online: What You Need To Know To Execute The Process Successfully And Legally
Butler's Thursday Tips #3 | Organization Matters
Podcast: Bridging the Gap
Podcast - Rule 7: Playing the Guessing Game is a Losing Strategy
Podcast - Rule 6: If You Don't Remember, Say So
Jones Day Presents: Strategies for Dealing with the IRS: Going to Court
Episode 015: Confessions of a Business Appraiser: A Conversation with Chris Mercer
5 Ways to Defeat Deposition Abuse
Recent amendments to the federal rules governing pretrial discovery encourage courts to be more aggressive in squelching wasteful discovery practices. Litigators should be mindful that judges are increasingly taking the rules...more
The rule seems simple enough: Attorneys defending a witness during a deposition may instruct the witness not to answer questions only for the purpose of protecting privileged information. And yet, if the number of trial court...more
The line between ethical witness preparation and unethical coaching is somewhere between ensuring a witness doesn’t show up unprepared for a legal proceeding and putting words in their mouth. Incorporating a solid trial...more
Given how critical depositions are to the legal process, it stands to reason that fair deposition practices are paramount to a legal team’s success. However, several forms of unethical and unfair conduct can emerge during...more
The Arizona Court of Appeals recently held that in a deposition, a party must answer any relevant, non-harassing question, unless the answer is privileged. Attorneys are on notice that sanctions are fair game if they instruct...more
The blog post Turning Deposition No-Shows to the Client’s Advantage proved popular with our readers when written (2021!) and for years afterward. The sustained readership of that article is gratifying but also disappointing...more
A fair reading of the facts set out in Phillips Auctioneers LLC v Grosso, 2024 NY Slip Op 33906 (N.Y. Sup. Ct., N.Y. Cty., Oct. 31, 2024), a contract dispute, suggests that both the witness and his attorney were determined to...more
Last week’s blog touched briefly on the need to provide appellate courts with an adequate record of trial court proceedings that are the subject of an appeal. Without an adequate record – in almost all cases, a verbatim...more
The conclusion of the baseball season is an apt occasion to reflect on the wisdom of New York Yankee great Yogi Berra’s remark, “You can observe a lot by watching.” What Berra meant to say, we imagine, is that close...more
Last month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed a sanction decision of the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, ruling that the lower court’s dismissal of the plaintiff’s case for lying in...more
As readers of this blog are aware, the most contentious battles during a lawsuit are fought during discovery. Among the various discovery battles is scheduling depositions. In many cases, parties tend to reschedule...more
We’ve written previously about sanctions that trial courts can impose on parties that, for no good reason, fail to appear for a properly noticed deposition. Courts are understandably impatient with parties that throw sand in...more
Dismissal of a lawsuit is a rare sanction for a discovery violation, but it happened recently in a workplace discrimination lawsuit, due in large part to two probing depositions that called into question one party’s assertion...more
An attorney who surreptitiously fed answers to his client – roughly 50 times during a six-hour remote deposition, according to court documents – has been given a public reprimand by the Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers....more
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) brought an action against 18 defendants under the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) for engaging in or substantially...more
On June 12, 2023, an Eleventh Circuit panel issued an opinion affirming a sanctions order against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) premised on the CFPB’s “derail[ment]” of multiple depositions in contravention...more
A&B Abstract: When litigating in federal court, government agencies are not exempt from the rules of discovery. The Eleventh Circuit reminded the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) of this in its recent decision...more
On Monday, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed sanctions levied by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau due to its conduct during discovery. The CFPB...more
A unanimous panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has affirmed the district court’s order dismissing several defendants as sanctions for the CFPB’s continuation of “obstructionist conduct” in...more
Sanctions for perceived shortcomings in document productions and corporate representative depositions have long been a real threat in asbestos litigation in South Carolina. The plaintiffs’ bar has regularly filed Motions to...more
James Corey Goode, et al v. Roger Richards Ramsaur, et al, (D. Col. 2023) - Few litigation events cause tempers to flare as surely as depositions, but only once in a blue moon, it seems, will a Court take action against an...more
On April 20, 2023, Magistrate Judge Ann Marie Donio of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey issued a comprehensive opinion concerning the appropriate level of sanctions for discovery misconduct. ...more
“Discovery is a taxing experience for attorneys and their clients. At times, personalities clash, which may permeate litigation through frivolous motions and vexatious arguments, as Respondent has participated in here. This...more
For some, discovery is merely a necessary evil in the litigation process. And so, it should come as no surprise that the discovery process is often ripe with gamesmanship. A recent decision reminds practitioners, however,...more
Lawyers can “Break Bad” and veer from ethical and professional standards. Somehow this is not so hard to envision. Legal misconduct occurs more than most expect. And the system reacts in variety of ways – professional...more